RafranzDavis.com

Active Presentations

Keynotes:

Creating Change Beyond Your Zip Code

To quote former president Barack Obama, “A child’s course in life should not be determined by the zip code she’s born in, but by the strength of her work ethic”. As educators, we are charged with understanding the potential for growth in connected learning. As powerful as connecting can be for students and teachers, we must still be mindful of those that are often left behind…the silent students in the back of the room, the “off beat” creators and the dreamers still lurking in comfortable zones. In this talk, I’ll invite you into my driveway and together we will take a journey down the pathway of change…one zip code at a time..

Presentations:

Narrate Your EDU Journey with Apple Clips

Grab your iphone or ipad and join this hands on experience as we use images, videos, maps and more to share meaningful narratives and even new ideas with the swift hold of a button and the Apple Clips app.

Exploring Bits, Chips and Blocks with Microsoft’s MakeCode

Make a cardboard guitar. Create a light show within a work of art. Design an alert system for your room. Explore various affordable micro-controllers and learn how inspired coders can create, make and tinker both physically and digitally with Microsoft’s Make Code.

Smarter Leadership with GSuite Apps

Real transformation doesn’t begin and end in the classroom but is inclusive of all areas within the community, including leadership. In my school district, our google implementation started with our leadership while simultaneously developing in classrooms. We’ll discuss what worked, didn’t and look at ways to effectively drive change while building the plane as it’s flying.

Experiments, Trends and Thinking Beyond Ed Apps

How can objects help machines learn about the world around us? What happens when you build a database of bird sounds and ask the world to play? Research and data training for journalist? You bet! In this session, we’ll explore a few innovative google tools that can not only help bridge social tech conversations but maybe inspire users to look beyond ed apps and into how the real world engages with the web.

Workshops:

Get Your Geek On: Teachers Can Code Too

Coding isn’t just for kids! Come alone or grab your friends and join this self-taught coder as we explore readily available tools and resources, meant to inspire the teacher developer in all of us. No coding skills required!

Making Publishing Accessible with Bookcreator on Chrome

In this workshop, participants will learn how to integrate free tools like adobe spark, Google’s autodraw and more to create empowered student publishers with Book Creator on chrome. While BookCreator’s web application is a paid tool, teachers will learn how to utilize its free model of 40 books in order to create opportunities for publishing for all learners.